South Park's 20th Season Was a Failure. Trey Parker and Matt Stone Know It.

When South Parkconcluded its 19th season nearly a year ago to the day, the world was a strikingly different place. Yes, the United States was in the early stages of what would become a crushing election, but our political follies had not yet distracted the country from concrete issues. Following San Bernardino and Colorado Springs, guns were terrorizing the U.S. as well as the little cartoon town. ISIS was a faceless, looming nightmare. A former reality TV star was making a mockery of the Republican Party and providing great material for comedians. Gentrification was changing the shape of our cities, and PC culture was annoying as hell. These were tangible problems that, even if they didn't have easy answers, could be solved.

By September 14, when South Park premiered its historic 20th season, the only topic of interest in this country was the presidential election. That former reality star had become the terrifying embodiment of deep-seated American sexism, anger, and xenophobia. And the only end in sight to any of this would be on November 8, when Hillary Clinton would win the election.

Imagine being South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone in this situation. South Park's 19th season was the greatest of the show's long storied history in which they experimented with serialized episodes. That year they continued to write and produce the show through a stunning week-long schedule between episodes, but they were able to weave recent events into the greater story arc. Early in 2015, they noticed the trend of PC culture permeating throughout society, a topic which anchored the entire season.

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So how do they write a 10-episode narrative when a completely absurd election—one that changes drastically by the minute—is the only subject of interest? Even if you're finishing an episode hours in advance of showtime, chances are, Donald Trump will insult a woman or start a feud with a Broadway musical before it airs. It's impossible to be topical. Trends are almost non-existent.

You have to give Parker and Stone credit for trying to serialize Season 20 amid the most unpredictable news cycle in recent memory. But it just didn't work. Ideas were started and abandoned. Story lines fizzled out (What happened to the gentlemen's club? What exactly happened with the Member Berries?). The stories that were completed either made no sense or seemed like they were forced together, as if Parker and Stone tried to shove a puzzle piece into the wrong spot. (Why was SpaceX involved? What were they trying to say with Cartman's girlfriend? What was the deal with Star Wars and J.J. Abrams?) It was a season of half-thoughts and glimmers of brilliance that never amounted to anything. And because they were trying to keep up with the rapid changes in the election, the jokes and analysis suffered.

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South Park has survived for 20 seasons by making chaos out of our imperfect reality. When our reality becomes more chaotic than South Park could even imagine, the show crumbles.

South Park has survived for 20 seasons by making chaos out of our imperfect reality. When our reality becomes more chaotic than South Park could even imagine, the show crumbles. And the creators know it, too. This season finale was titled "The End of Serialization as We Know It," and I can imagine why Parker and Stone are done with that incredible experiment. And if it seems like I'm putting too much thought into a cartoon about kids who say bad words, it's because the analysis is deserved. South Park has won a Peabody Award, five Emmys and Parker and Stone have won four Tony and a Grammy. This show deserves to be held at a higher standard, because it often holds us at a higher standard.

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Despite a spotty season, the show was not without its brilliant moments. Its early analysis of problematic nostalgia and Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were truly stunning. The show acknowledged how trolls have permeated not just the Internet, but a presidential election and our day-to-day lives. Though South Park's latest season never came to an actual conclusion on the subject, it did suggest that we're all secretly trolls wanting to watch the world burn. The ease with which Donald Trump can piss off the world with one tweet is as stunning as how one troll can ruin a stranger's day with one comment. Thanks to the Internet, we can hurt others from the comfort of our couches, and what's even scarier is that normal people get sick thrills out of doing it. At the end of the season, the nihilistic urge to troll didn't make much sense, and the only solution South Park could think of was to just fucking tear it all down—end the Internet and start over. But we emerge from the wreckage the same sick fucks who want to send dick pics to other people.

For the first time, South Park's finale feels as if the bad guys won. Our real world out-South Parked South Park. The show used to be the kind of show that shocked its audience; now, it feels like we're the ones who are doing the shocking and South Park is telling us, "Hey, maybe that's too much." Since South Park has always been a mirror to society, maybe the question remains: Has South Park failed us, or have we failed South Park?

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